From John Jay to Lady Elizabeth Amherst, 20 February 1795
To Lady Elizabeth Amherst
[R. Hotel, Pall Mall, 20 Feb. 1795]
Mr Jay presents his best Compliments and returns his many thanks for the Print of Lord Amherst which her Ladyship has done him the honor to send—1 it will be give pleasure to his Lordships numerous friends in America, and Mr Jay will always regard it as a valuable and interesting addition to his little Collection as well from the high respect he entertains for ^L. Amherst^ her L as a mark of ^her Ladyships obliging^ this attention with Wh. her Ladyship is pleased to humor him—2
Dft, NNC (EJ: 12850). JJ wrote this in reply to a letter from Lady Amherst, 20 Feb. 1795 (EJ: 05448).
1. This print was most likely a version of the mezzotint James Watson (c. 1740–90) made after Reynolds’s 1765 portrait of Amherst. The last edition of this print came out in 1795 or 1796 by J. & J. Boydell.
2. This gift and theater invitations (she had a box in the Drury Lane theater) initiated a relationship between the Jays and the Amhersts. See also Lady Amherst to JJ, 2 Feb. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 05447); Lady Amherst to JJ, 4 Mar. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 05449); and the editorial note “John Jay’s Mission to London,” above.